Fluffing machine



May 23, 1939. F. B. HIRSCH FLUFFING MACHINE Filed April 25, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR $11M iii)- ATTORNEY May 23, 1939. F. B. HIRSCH 2,159,950

FLUFFING MACHINE Filed April 25, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 \lllll \Q 4 Z/Z- E nunuuu nlmlmlm u INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented May 23, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Fred B. Hirsch, East Providence, R. I.

Application April 25, 1938, Serial No. 203,979

2 Claims.

15 a fiuffing machine which can be positioned in the path of travel of textile material undergoing processing, whereby separate handling and loss of manufacturing time is eliminated.

With the above and other objects and advan- 20 tageous features in view, the invention consists of a novel arrangement of parts and a novel method of flufi'ing more fully disclosed in the detailed description following, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and more 25 specifically defined in the claims appended thereto.

In the drawings: Fig. 1 is a plan view, partly broken away, of an illustrative embodiment of my invention;

30 Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail of a section of cloth having a raised dot design; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the fiuffed dots.

5 It'has been found desirable to mechanically fluff raised designs in textile materials, by subjecting a strip of textile material to brushes which are arranged to subject the raised designs to alternate brushings in opposite directions,

40 whereby the raised designs, such as for instance polka dots, are brushed to bring the individual threads out from the textile base, in a compact mass. To this end, I have devised an arrangement for subjecting each portion of the surface 45 of a traveling textile strip to alternate brushings in directions across the direction of movement of the textile strip.

Referring to the drawings, the flufiing machine includes a frame In comprising two spaced 50 standards II, the frame and standards supporting a power driven rotatable brush roller l2, see Fig. 2, which is spaced forwardly of the frame, a guide roll I3, a power driven spreader roller I4, a guide roll I5 which is mounted in an ad- 55 justable support IS, a fixed spreader bar [1, an

adjustable guide bar l8 which is mounted in a housing [9 for vertical and horizontal adjustment, a second fixed spreader bar 20, a second guide roll 2| which is mounted in an adjustable support 22, and an exit power driven spreader 5 roll 23.

A plurality of rotary disk brushes 24 are rotatably mounted on cross bars 25 which support the fixed spreader bars 11 and 20, each having pulleys 26, whereby an endless belt 21, preferably of V shape, rotates the pulleys, and therefore the rotary brushes, in opposed relation.

Referring now to Fig. 2, a textile cloth A, having a raised design, is passed from the processing apparatus or the like under the revolving brush 15 I2, with the raised design towards the revolving brush, whereby foreign substances are brushed off and the raised design receives a preliminary brushing to loosen the threads or fibres. The cloth travels over the guide roll l3 to the spreader roller I4, where wrinkles are removed by the spreading action, and then passes over the adjustable guide roll l5, which is set so as to properly engage the raised design with the revolving brushes 24.

The cloth, which is again smoothed by the spreader bar I1, is again brushed, again smoothed, again brushed, and finally smoothed and spread, and passes on to a starching ma-- chine, if desired, and to the usual tentering machine.

The revolving brushes 24, see Fig. 1, rotate in opposite directions, due to the use of the flexible V belt, and the raised designs on the cloth are thus subjected to lateral brushings in both direc- 5 tions to the path of travel, as well as to brushings along the path of travel and in opposed relation thereto. The fibres or threads of the raised designs are thus bunched and compacted while they are being brushed out, so that the final effect is to bring the raised design into sharp outline and sharp relief; polka dots, for example, become upstanding flufied out tufts, the resulting cloth being very attractive in appearance.

Since the brushing is accomplished during travel of the cloth, no increase in processing time results, and the fiufling is accomplished with a minimum of supervision and at a very low expense.

Although I have described the apparatus as particularly suitable for brushing cloth having raised designs, the apparatus may be used for other textile brushings and processes, and may be changed for such purposes, without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a fiufiing machine, a frame, a series of rotatable brushing disks mounted in transverse alignment on said frame, a second series of rotatable brushing disks mounted in said frame in spaced parallel alignment to said first series, guide rod elements for guiding a strip of textile material successively into brushing contact with said disks, means for moving the strip of textile material across said disks, and means for rotating said disks to alternately brush the textile material surface in opposite directions.

2. In a flumng machine, a frame, a series of rotatable brushing disks mounted in transverse alignment on said frame, a second series of rotatable brushing disks mounted on said frame in spaced parallel alignment to said first series, the disks of said second series having their axes of rotation in intermediate relation to the axes of rotation of the disks of the first series, guide rod elements for guiding a strip of textile material successively into brushing contact with said disks, means for moving the strip of textile material across said disks, and means for rotating said disks in the same direction to alternately brush the textile material in opposite directions. FRED B. I-HRSCH. 

